Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian, 20% fewer residential properties were sold during 2019. Situation deteriorated rapidly this year after the Bahamas government decided to close its borders to international tourists in March 2020, in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease. In Q1 2020, tourist arrivals fell by 14.7% y-o-y to 1.7 million. Over the same period, air and sea travellers fell by 28% and 10.5%, respectively. Tourism figures in Q2 2020 are expected to be much worse.
Property prices saw an average correction of 20% from peak after the global financial crisis, with some areas seeing declines of as such as 60%, according to Bahamas Realty. Local agents say house prices dropped by 30% to 40% from 2007 to 2010 (there are no official house price figures). The housing market has slowly stabilized since. In fact before Hurricane Dorian struck the small Caribbean nation, overall prices have been stable in the past three years, with almost balanced supply and demand, said George Damianos of Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty. In 2019, the average price of single family homes in The Bahamas stood at about US$3.5 million.
The economy had annual average growth of just 0.7% from 2010 to 2017. Economic growth improved to 1.6% in 2018 and to 1.8% in 2019, thanks to the opening of Baha Mar, increased foreign direct investment, and post-hurricane construction activity.